El Nino as seen from California

El Nino could bring disaster and drought relief to California - LA Times

Have a look at this good graphic from the article, too:

They're pretty sure this winter will very "interesting" on that side of the world.

It's also quite likely that a fairly cold winter in Australia will turn around quickly to a warmer than usual summer.  Hope we don't then slip into a decade long drought, like we did after the last big one...

Creighton is not to be trusted

Labor’s renewable energy target policy would waste $100bn | The Australian

Another country not to visit

Iran executions see 'unprecedented spike' - Amnesty - BBC News

Arsenic, rice, coffee

The sub heading in this Nature News article raises an interesting question:

Preparing rice in a coffee machine can halve levels of the naturally occurring substance.

The substance being arsenic, and the question being "what type of coffee machine can you cook rice in?"   (I'm pretty sure filling used Nespresso pods with a teaspoon of rice is not going to work, and also take a hell of a long time to serve the dinner party.)

I think I've had a post about this before - rice is particularly prone to sucking up arsenic and getting it into your diet.   And it seems pretty unclear as to how dangerous it could be over a lifetime.

Renewables and energy costs

One thing has become pretty clear - the economics of government renewable energy targets are complicated, and modelling this type of policy's effects can be all over the shop, often seeming suspiciously prone to making assumptions that suit the interests of the modeller.

I would not trust any initial wildly negative reaction to Labor's apparent decision to increase the renewables target dramatically.   I don't even trust the Grattan Institute on this topic.  Wildly optimistic modelling is probably wrong too. 

ISIS and climate change

Is Martin O’Malley Right About ISIS, Climate Change, and the Syrian Civil War? - The Atlantic

A suggestion that drives conservatives into mocking meltdown is not so crazy, but I have a few comments to make:

*  it's funny how we don't always hear about dire, record breaking droughts if they are in parts of the world we don't care about;

* this part of the article makes sense:

Of course, scientists and security consultants get nervous when the media covers studies such as this one. They worry, in particular, about the impression that wars can be reduced to a single cause. (As one told The Guardian in May about the PNAS study, “I’ll  put this in a crude way: No amount of climate change is going to cause  civil violence in the state where I live (Massachusetts), or in Sweden or many other places around the world.”)

* I see that one of the most worrisome nations in the world for instability - Pakistan - has an ongoing drought issue, too.

Popular does not equate with quality

I see today that Jurassic World is now the third biggest grossing movie behind, ugh, Titanic and Avatar.

Odd, hey?   I've never finished Avatar - I lose interest after the shortest time of watching the fake blue aliens do fake flying and such.   (My mind also starts wondering about how 20th century the flying machines look.)
And as for Titanic - terrible script.  Just terrible.

Oddly enough, the success of these films is said to be about young women who became obsessed with their romantic elements.   Which is odd, given Cameron's reputation of jerk-like, uber masculine behaviour in real life.

James Cameron may be extremely rich, and has very peculiar hobbies (involving putting himself in capsules and sinking to the bottom of the deepest ocean), but there is no way his movies are going to be remembered as getting to where they are by virtue of their timeless quality.

(And as for Jurassic World - it's not an artistically important film either, but to me, getting to near the top by being merely fun is more credible than getting there by sucking in women with terrible romances.)

More Bishop meme-ery

I think I've identified the other actors (gee, they were young then):   Joe Hockey (to her immediate left), Henry Ergas (to our far left), and I think that might be Eric Abetz on the far right.

The very definition of Pyrrhic victory

Joe Hockey defamation trial: Treasurer to recover only small fraction of legal costs from Fairfax case - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Justice Richard White found that a poster headline and tweets reading "Treasurer for sale" were defamatory.

All other claims made by Mr Hockey were dismissed.

In the Federal Court today, Justice White ordered that Fairfax pay no more than 15 per cent of Mr Hockey's recoverable costs.

This means his legal bill is expected to be far in excess of the $200,000 he was awarded.

A source close to the case dismissed speculation Fairfax and Mr Hockey each incurred more than $1 million in legal bills.

However, the bill for both parties combined is expected to top $1 million.

If that is the case, Mr Hockey would net $250,000 from Fairfax in damages and costs but face a legal bill of about $500,000.

So, it seems virtually certain that, even if these figures are out a bit, Joe has probably lost a year's salary (at least) by virtue of his defamation "victory".

Thinking big

Mystery haze appears above Ceres' bright spots : Nature News & Comment

The article says Ceres is "at least" 1/4 water.   It's also about 1,000 km across.  If I had time, I'd work out the weight and volume of ice, then.  But I see a report from 2005 says it might be more fresh water than on all of Earth.

That could go a long way towards making the Moon a livable place.   Got to get Ceres there first, though.

But what's the diameter of the Moon?  Only 3,500 km?   I imagined it would be bigger than that.  Well, I wouldn't recommend smashing Ceres into it, then.  Although I guess it could be a way of making some nice, ice rings around the planet.    

Coming up to the 4 year anniversary

Today:

Remember when Bronwyn used to be on Senate "waste committees"?

Found via a collection of old Laurie Oakes columns:



Update:  20 years later:

On February 2, 2013, Mrs Bishop - then shadow special minister of state and for seniors - charged taxpayers more than $1000 for the use of a car.

Bronwyn Bishop charged the taxpayer more than $1000 for the use of a car the day she attended the Opera Australia performance of La Boheme at the Domain.

Sausage panic

A bag of ‘fat, chemicals – and hepatitis’: why Britain has stopped eating sausages | Life and style | The Guardian

Look, it's the Guardian, so I could expect a bit of food snobbery to be on display.  But still, if Britain has "stopped eating sausages" it seems to me that Australia might have gone in the other direction.   Upmarket flavoured sausages seem more common than ever, as do German style sausages.   I wouldn't be surprised if Australians are eating more than before...

Quite right

Does anyone but the IPA want to hoist the Union Jack over our history again? | Jason Wilson | Comment is free | The Guardian

I started a post along similar lines a few days but never finished it:  it's rather rich of the IPA, as the alleged  champion of academic freedom and competition in education to be complaining when universities exercise the discretion they already have to market towards more "pop" history than "traditional" history.  (And I say that as one who is somewhat skeptical of the value of modern pop history.)

I wonder how Bronwyn's taking the idea of Tony placing her "on probation"?